Losing A Pet Is So Hard

My little chihuahua passed away in March this year. He had been sick for a while, so it was not a surprise, but it was still hard to lose him. He was ten years old and lived a full life. There is a chihuahua shaped hole in my heart that he once filled, and it is comforting now to think of him.

I named him Zeus, god of dogs. I know what you’re thinking, how do you name a nine-pound chihuahua after the most powerful Greek god? He had big energy. Also, it never got old watching strangers laugh at the irony of a tiny dog called Zeus.

“Having a pet is like premeditated heartbreak,” a friend once said to me, “it is like scheduling yourself to be unbearably sad ten years down the road.”

He came into my life when I had no business owning a dog. My relationship was unstable and so when that collapsed everything else became unstable as well including my housing situation. During those turbulent months he was a charming distraction and the best snuggle buddy. He got to come to work with me every day. Zeus was my little fuzzy shadow. We did everything together.

Ultimately my housing situation did not permit me to have pets anymore so Zeus went to live with my mother. They developed such a powerful bond that even when I could have a dog again Zeus stayed with her. He became her constant companion, and I felt good about that. I am grateful to my folks for taking him in and loving him so much.

I’ll never forget how tough he was; he got stomped on by a moose and lived! He loved to ride on the front of my paddle board, and to run around in the woods at my parents’ property on Big Lake. He could sort of be the fun police; he didn’t like it when other people or dogs would play too hard, like he was worried someone would get hurt, and he would snarl and bark and act like a little turd. But he was such a lovebug, and he always knew just how to brighten your day.

“Having a pet is like premeditated heartbreak,” a friend once said to me, “it is like scheduling yourself to be unbearably sad ten years down the road.” I said goodbye to other pets before Zeus and I’ll mourn many. Losing a pet is so hard. But we love them with the unfettered intensity of temporary things, and they bring boundless joy to our lives. Knowing we will have to go on without them after they die is a worthwhile risk in exchange for the happiness they bring and the wonderful memories they leave behind.